Page 170 of Taken By the Fae

A dark look passes over his face, and he leans forward, resting his forehead against my collarbone. “Tell me,” he says softly, “because I don’t have the luxury of not knowing.”

I hold him against me, rubbing my hand up and down his back for a minute. “Marisa lured me outside to the back staff entrance under the guise she was upset over something. She’s always been incredibly nice to me, so I didn’t hesitate to go. I wanted to make sure she was okay. Before I knew what was happening, someone jabbed me with a syringe, knocked me out, and took me to the facility where they…” My voice trails off, a shiver running through me. Flashes of all-white rooms, cold floors, and the burning scent of chemicals fill my head, and I recoil from it.You’re not there,I chant to myself.

Tristan pulls back and stands, cupping my cheeks. “Rory, you don’t have to. If it’s too hard for you—”

“I’m okay,” I force out, staring into his eyes and letting the deep blue waves ground me as I grip the front of his shirt. “At the facility, they kept me restrained in a bed unless I needed the bathroom. I wasn’t allowed to feed and only given human food. They used an iron infused elixir to keep me weak, especially after I attacked and fed on Marisa. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d have the strength to fight them all after a week without feeding.”

A muscle feathers along his jaw, his gaze darkening, though his fingers remain gentle, splayed across my cheeks. “What do you remember about the facility?”

I drag in an unsteady breath, then exhale slowly and try to focus on the feel of his thumbs stroking my skin. “It was like a medical center. Everything was white or metal, clean to the point of smelling so strongly of antiseptic it would make you sick. The room I was locked in had a bed and a chair. Besides the room where they did the procedure and where I found Max, everything else was kept behind locked doors and, of course, destroyed when we detonated the self-destruct function before we left.”

Tristan nods tightly, tipping my head back to level our gazes. “You are the bravest person I know, Rory. I need you to know that. Whatever happens next, we’ll figure it out. We will always figure it out.”

“We’ll—” My voice cracks as my hands shake against his chest. “We’ll figure it out.” A sob catches in my throat and my vision blurs with hot tears.

Tristan’s brows pull together, his lips falling into a frown. He slides his fingers into my hair and lowers his lips to my forehead. That simple touch breaks me. My legs give out, and Tristan catches me around my waist, cradling me against him. My heart beats like the wings of a hummingbird just trying to stay alive and my pulse jackhammers as I lose control of my thoughts, spiraling back to that nightmare I barely survived.

A strangled sound akin to a whimper-like gasp escapes my lips before I press my mouth to Tristan’s. Closing my eyes, I channel every emotion flooding through me into the kiss, desperate to lose myself in him. Only if for a moment. A tiny reprieve from reliving the hell I’ve been through.

“Aurora,” he murmurs thickly, pulling back before I can deepen the kiss.

“Please,” I cry, grasping at him, “make me forget.”

“I don’t…” He trails off, his eyes searching mine. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

I drag his lips back to mine in response, and his grip tightens as he returns the kiss with equal intensity. He just lost his best friend; he needs this as much as I do. Our mouths move together, perfectly in-sync, and we only break apart to catch our breaths.

Taking a small step back, he reaches for the hem of the scrub shirt and lifts it over my head, revealing my bare chest. His gaze deepens as his eyes roam my body, and a shiver races up my spine. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my decades on this earth.”

Heat rushes to my cheeks, and I fight the urge to look away from the weight of his gaze. “You’re not bad either, I guess,” I quip, reaching for his shirt, adding it to the growing pile on the floor.

Tristan guides me back until I reach the bed, dropping onto the end of it and scooting toward the headboard. He crawls over me, kissing me slow and deep until my head spins, then pulls back and curls his fingers around the elastic waistband of the scrub pants, tugging them down to my ankles. I kick them the rest of the way off as Tristan stands and steps out of his pants, leaving us both completely naked. My gaze drops to his cock, and I lick my lips at the hardened length, its tip glistening with arousal.

He moves over me again, stealing my lips in a scorching kiss as I run my fingers up his chest, then into his hair, gripping the ends and tipping his head back to deepen the kiss. He holds himself up with a knee between my legs and his arms braced on either side of my head. His hair falls into his face as he devours my lips with his, and I push it back, moaning softly into his mouth when his erection brushes my stomach.

Breaking the kiss, Tristan drops his mouth to my chest, his tongue swirling around one breast while his fingers massage the other, wringing soft moans from me with ease. And then his mouth is traveling lower, making my skin tingle with warmth as the muscles in my stomach tighten. Gripping my thighs, he slowly spreads them open, baring my center to his hungry gaze. The first pass of his tongue over my clit has my hips arching off the bed, stealing the air from my lungs in a choked gasp. He flattens his tongue, licking along my folds before pulling my clit into his mouth, sucking gently as I writhe beneath him.

“Yes, yes, yes,” I breathe, gripping the sheets on either side of me, squeezing my eyes shut as pleasure whips through me. I willingly give myself over to it, welcoming it to consume me.

Tristan moans against me, shooting vibrations straight to my core, before he pushes his tongue into me, using his fingers to hold me open. Heat floods my body, flushing my skin and making my heart rattle the cages of my ribs.

“Don’t stop,” I gasp.

He doubles his efforts, plunging his tongue in and out of me, while his thumb strums my clit. My thighs tighten as he picks up speed, hitting a sensitive spot deep inside me, and I clench around him, crying out my release with his name on my lips.

When he climbs back over me, sealing his mouth over mine, I taste myself on his lips. I reach between us, wrapping my fist around his cock, and he growls low in his throat, thrusting his hips forward. “I want to bury myself inside you,” he says against my lips, nipping the bottom one with his teeth.

My heart trips over itself and the muscles in my stomach tense in anticipation as I guide him between my legs. The blunt head of his cock teases my entrance, rubbing back and forth as my breathing hitches.

He pushes into me slowly, inch by inch, as his lips leave mine to trail along my jaw and kiss the racing pulse at my throat. “You feel incredible,” he says into my neck.

I wrap my legs around him, trying to push him deeper, and he chuckles softly, rolling his hips and thrusting deeper before pulling out almost completely. I groan before he slides in all the way, filling me to the hilt. My lips part in a silent gasp, and he gives me a few moments to adjust to the invasion before he moves. Thrusting in slow and deep, he kisses each of my cheeks, then the tip of my nose, before his lips brush mine.

Sighing contentedly, I say, “Fuck, that feels so good.”

His lips curl into a soft grin, and he kisses the corner of my mouth.

I pull back enough to gaze into his eyes. “I love you, Tristan Westbrook.”

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